Finally Awake
by The 1597 Faceless Writer
Summary: Chris Thorndyke awakens from a long sleep to discover a depressing truth about his best friend, Sonic the Hedgehog.


Author's Note: So here's a one shot that I've wanted to make for a while. I hope you all enjoy it!

Finally Awake

Chris Thorndyke watched as Sonic the Hedgehog ran to catch up to the spaceship he was in. Hot tears were rolling down his cheeks. This was it. He was heading home. Back to Earth and away from Sonic. There was a bright flash of light and everything disappeared in an explosion of white.

Chris's eyes shot open. He was lying on a hospital bed with tubes connected to his arms. A nurse was standing over him.

"Chris. Chris! Wake up!" she called. Chris took in a deep breath of air as he opened his eyes the entire way. The nurse smiled and turned to five figures standing a few feet away. Chris looked to see his parents, his grandfather, Mr. Tanaka, and Ella smiling at him. Chuck laughed with joy at the sight of his awakened grandson. Mr. and Mrs. Thorndyke ran towards him and hugged him tightly.

"Oh Chris! Oh Chris!" cried Mrs. Thorndyke. Chris was confused. He had just been in a spaceship waving goodbye to Sonic. How did he end up in the hospital? That's when he realized that he was still twelve years old.

"How do you feel, son?" asked Mr. Thorndyke. Chris sat up and stared at his parents.

"I feel fine, Dad," Chris replied. He turned to Chuck and asked, "Did something go wrong when I came back into this world? Why am I still twelve years old?"

Chuck looked at his grandson with a curious look on his face.

"What do you mean, Chris?" he asked.

"Hello?! I was nineteen years old when I left for Sonic's world! I became twelve years old again there because only six months have passed there while six years have passed here. I assumed that when I came back to Earth, I would return to being nineteen again. Did something go wrong?"

"Chris, what on earth are you talking about?" asked Mrs. Thorndyke.

"Don't you remember when I left for Sonic's world?"

"Who's Sonic?" asked Chuck. Chris fell silent. His jaw dropped. This had to be a joke or something.

"Who's Sonic?! What are you talking about, grandpa?! You know who Sonic is! We all do! Sonic the Hedgehog! You know?! The blue, anthropomorphic hedgehog that's saved us multiple times from Dr. Eggman!"

"Who's Dr. Eggman, Chris?" asked Mr. Thorndyke. Chris fell silent again. What was going on?

"I was afraid of this," said the nurse. "He must still be recovering from the shock of what happened."

"What's going on?! Why are you all pretending that you don't know Sonic? You have to remember him and the others! Tails, Amy, Cream, Cheese, Knuckles, Rouge! Come on! They lived with us for a whole year, remember?!" Chris snapped. Chuck nodded to the nurse and she calmly walked out. Chuck sat down at the foot of Chris's bed and sighed.

"Chris. I guess I should start off by saying that you're not nineteen years old, nor are you twelve years old. You're thirteen," he said.

"But that's still five years off! What gives?!"

"Chris, I don't know how to say this."

"Just say it, grandpa! I want to know what's going on!"

"You've been in a coma for a whole year."

The room fell silent. Chris could feel his stomach rising into his chest. He was in a coma for a year? How could that be?

"I've been in a coma?!" Chris choked.

"Yes. Last year, you dived into the pool to rescue your dog, Sparky."

Chris's eyes stretched open. He remembered Sparky. He had forgotten him for a long time but he suddenly remembered. Sparky had died when he was young. Or had he? Chuck continued.

"You dived in the wrong way and smashed your skull into the bottom of the pool. Sparky drowned and you would have too if Mr. Tanaka hadn't rescued you. We brought you here but it was too late. You were in a coma. It's been a long year, Chris. Recently, you've been moving and even talking. You would mumble about the weirdest things. I think you talking about something called a Chaos Emerald once and at one time you called for someone called Cosmo. With all of your progress, the doctors deduced that you were going to wake up today. So we came to visit you and here we are."

The words hit Chris like a rock. It couldn't be true. It just couldn't be true.

"That...that's wrong! I dived into the pool to save Sonic! Don't you remember?!"

"Chris," said Mrs. Thorndyke. Chris turned to his mother. "This Sonic person isn't real. None of it was real. It was all just a dream, honey. I'm sorry to have to tell you this but its true."

"But...Sonic! All the adventures we had together! All of the villains that we stopped! All of the inventions that grandpa made with Tails!"

"It never happened, Chris. It was all just a coma-induced dream, and a vivid one at that from the look of things," said Chuck. Chris looked down. Tears were rolling down his face. It couldn't be true. It just couldn't be true. Mrs. Thorndyke hugged Chris as he proceeded to cry into her arm. Mr. Thorndyke stood up and approached Chuck, Mr. Tanaka, and Ella.

"I think it's going to take some time for Chris to get over this," he said. Chuck, Mr. Tanaka, and Ella nodded in agreement.

_**Five Years Later...**_

Chris was late again. He couldn't believe that he had forgotten about his date with Helen. He raced around the bend and nearly bumped into a woman carrying groceries. Helen was waiting for him at the cafe. She had already gone through the process of ordering for him.

"Late again, as usual," she sighed.

"Sorry," said Chris as he sat down. "I've been really busy of late."

"Writing more episodes for the show?"

"Yeah. I'm sorry. I shouldn't be putting you second to some kid's show."

"I don't mind. I think it's great, what you're doing. At least you've made something good from what happened when you were twelve."

Chris thought back to the day he woke up. The moment in which he had learned Sonic was nothing but a part of his imagination was probably the worst moment in his life. Helen could see the sadness in Chris's eyes and she quickly reached over to grab his hand.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"I'm fine. It's just that, sometimes, I still wish that it all really had happened," he replied. Helen leaned back and sighed.

"Yeah. I wish it had too. The adventures that you've told me about sounded so much fun."

"Like the one where Sonic took you to see some flowers?"

"And the president's goons came after us!"

Chris and Helen laughed with delight.

"Have you made an episode based off of that?" she asked.

"Yeah. I even named the character after you," he replied.

"Thank you. What about Frances and Danny?"

"Don't worry. They're in it too."

"Are you in it?"

"Hmm?"

"Did you put yourself in it?"

"No. I don't want to continue dwelling over those stupid dreams. Sonic's friend in the show is Charlie Bones."

"That's an odd name."

"Yeah. I did kind of base him off of me though."

"I knew you would. So when does it first air?"

"This Saturday. I hope kids will like it."

"I bet they will. Pretty soon, people all over the country, maybe even the world, will be watching and enjoying _Sonic the Hedgehog_! Maybe you'll even get a video game deal!"

"Like that's ever going to happen."

"It might. Have some faith. You could try offering the idea to Nintendo."

"Nah. Sonic doesn't sound like something Nintendo would put out. They're my backup company. I think I'd aim for Sega first."

"Sega? Really?"

"Yeah. Is there a problem with that?"

"No. Not at all."

Chris chuckled as he took a sip from his soda. He was happy with his life. Sonic may not have been real but the adventures still lived on through him. That feeling was real. He was sure of that.

The End


End file.
